'I'm so proud of the players:' Bowness credits team on grueling season

Stars (22-18-14, 58 points) vs. Blackhawks (23-25-6, 52 points)

The Stars were eliminated from the playoffs Saturday night when the Nashville Predators beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-1. Dallas can't catch Nashville, which sits four points ahead in the standings and has the first tiebreaker in regulation wins (20-17).
It was a tough pill to swallow for a Stars team that has battled through eight postponed games, injuries to key players, and a condensed schedule that has been downright brutal down the stretch.
"This team has played very hard all year," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "We're very proud of the way these guys have competed. With what we've had to face in terms of schedule and injuries and constant shuffling of lineup, this team has played very, very hard, and they played very hard for each other. And we expect to see that tonight and tomorrow night."

The Stars play at Chicago Sunday and Monday to close out their season, and while the results won't get Dallas into the playoffs, Bowness said they'll play to win. Both Roope Hintz and Tyler Seguin will be shut down for the final two games after battling with lower-body injuries, but Bowness said the roster will reflect the best healthy players available.
"We're going to put the best lineup we can tonight and put the best lineup we can tomorrow and do everything we can to win these games," Bowness said.
Bowness admits it was difficult to finally face the reality of elimination on Saturday night. "There was an awful pit in my stomach after the end of the game, much like when we lost in the Stanley Cup Final last year," he said. "Those things stay with you, they do. The disappointment of not getting in after everything I just described that we went through, you can't put that into words. It's an awful feeling in your stomach, and it'll never go away."
Despite everything that happened over the course of the season and the disappointment of missing the postseason, Bowness beams with pride when asked about the resilience of his squad in the face of adversity. "Those are things you can't control, so you can't beat yourself up over that," he said. "You deal with it the best you can, and that's why I'm so proud of the players."

What to watch

A few Stars will have personal best seasons.
Hintz will finish with 43 points (15 goals, 28 assists) in 41 games for a points-per-game average of 1.05, the best in his career.
Jason Robertson has 43 points in 49 games, the best rookie season for the Stars since Jussi Jokinen posted 55 points in 2005-06.
Joe Pavelski enters the final two games with a 0.93 points-per-game average, which is just below his career best of 0.96 in 2013-14. Pavelski is 36 but has had a resurgence in Dallas after signing as a free agent on July 1, 2019. He spent the first 13 years of his career with the San Jose Sharks, and Bowness says any transition like that will take time.

"When you come to a new team, it takes a while," Bowness said. "You think it's easy? It's not, trust me. He figured out a way to help this team the best. We all know from the circles down, he's elite. He knows how to get open, he knows where to put his stick for deflections, he knows how to roll off of checks and get a shot away, he knows how stand off to the side of the net when there's nothing coming to the front because it's all blocked off. He has that offensive knack. He's been a real fit with Roope, and Roope had been playing on one leg pretty much the whole year."
Pavelski and Hintz had a great game Friday with Pavelski getting four points and Hintz three. Hintz won't play the final two games of the regular season, but Bowness said Pavelski will finish strong.
"It's very, very impressive what he has done," Bowness said.

Lineup updates

Anton Khudobin will be back in net for the Stars. He is 12-10-7 on the year with a 2.49 goals-against average and .907 save percentage. Khudobin is 0-2-1 this year against the Blackhawks with a 2.25 GAA and .913 SV%.
With Seguin and Hintz sitting out, expect the lines to be shuffled.

Numbers

27.2

The Stars allow the third-fewest shots on goal per game at 27.2. Chicago ranks 30th, allowing 33.3 shots on goal against per game.

67

Chicago forward Patrick Kane has scored 67 points (30 goals, 37 assists) in 57 games in his career against Dallas. He is plus-16 in that span.

7

In six career games against Chicago, Robertson has seven points (two goals, five assists) and is plus-6 in that span.

He said it

"I would 've loved to have seen Bish in the net, had a healthy Rads and healthy Seggy and rolled lines like you normally do. We know on paper with a healthy team, we're fighting with those other teams for first place in the division, there's no question in my mind."-- Bowness on how hard it is to deal with the fact the team went almost the entire season without goaltender Ben Bishop and forwards Alexander Radulov and Seguin
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This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.